The 10 Best Steering Wheel Locks

Locking the wheel to the brake pedal stops a thief from both steering and stopping, and the Tevlaphee Brake Lock does it with a bar that stretches from the rim down to the pedal. Car and Driver's testers couldn't break it with hand tools. Two lock cylinders and three keys come in the box. Fitting it means leaning into the footwell each time, and the bare hooks can mark the wheel unless you stick on the included pads.

Thieves who can't cut through a bar lock sometimes saw the wheel rim instead, and the Disklok Security Device shuts that door by covering the whole wheel and the airbag. If someone grabs or attacks it, the cover just spins. It's sized to the wheel, so measure yours across before ordering; the one linked here is the medium. The mechanism carries a three-year warranty. It's heavy, bulky to stow behind a seat, and expensive.

A low price doesn't have to mean a weak lock, and the Cartman Adjustable shows it. In an independent attack test, hammering and drilling both failed to free it, but bolt cutters got through its aluminum center shaft. It stretches to fit most car wheels, and a rubber sleeve keeps it from scratching. Bright blue paint stands out through the windshield. The maker keeps no spare keys, so losing all of them means a locksmith.

Seen from the sidewalk, the bright yellow bar of The Club 3000 tells a thief to try another car, and that warning is most of its value. Twin hooks grip the rim at both ends, and it locks with one pull, so setting it takes seconds. It slows a casual thief, not a determined one: a hard hammer blow can knock it loose, and bolt cutters can snap its shaft.

Key copying is the worry The Club LX answers: its three laser-cut keys can't be duplicated at a hardware store. The maker says the hardened hooks stand up to sawing, prying and freezing. It locks with one pull, and the blue metallic finish looks at home in a nice interior. We found no independent attack test of this model, so those claims rest on the maker's word, and the rim itself stays open to a saw.

Drivers who want a pedal lock on a small budget can start with The Club CL303. One end hooks the steering wheel and the other clamps the brake or clutch pedal, so the car can't be steered or stopped. It's tempered steel, bright red, and locks with one pull. Whether it fits depends on the gap between wheel and pedal, so measure first. Setting it means bending into the footwell every time you park.

Rather than hooking the rim, the Artago 870 clamps around one spoke of the wheel, and the maker says cutting the rim won't free it. Its alarm gives a short warning chirp when the lock is jostled, then sounds a loud siren if the attack goes on, and a light flashes at night. The yellow body is hard to miss. The alarm runs on a battery that needs swapping now and then, and it's a big spend for a lock.

The Tevlaphee Heavy Duty grabs the rim with four hooks on two parallel bars, so it sits tight without rattling. It's solid steel with a copper lock core, and it slides open to fit most car, SUV and pickup wheels. The all-black finish blends into a dark cabin, which looks tidy but makes it a weaker warning to anyone peering through the glass. Setting both bars also takes a little longer each time.

Big pickup and SUV wheels can be too wide for a standard bar, and The Club 2100 answers with a longer shaft built for them. It keeps the familiar red body, locks with one pull, and uses keys cut in a pattern that resists picking and can't be copied. The maker says it stands up to sawing, prying and hammering. Its length makes it awkward to stow, and cutting through the rim still frees it.

Nothing to lose is the appeal of the Tevlaphee Keyless, which opens with a five-dial code instead of a key. That suits a shared car or anyone who misplaces keys. It stretches between opposite spokes, and a plastic coating keeps it from scuffing the wheel. Forget the code, though, and you'll need the reset card from the box, so keep it somewhere other than the car. Spinning the dials also takes longer than turning a key.